Game 1

Steve says:

Game one wasn't terrible.
Lets start with the positives for a change.
Our first line of Blake / Stajan / Stalberg was great. Every time they were on the ice, they were a threat...now they just need to turn some of that threat into finish (Stajan got 2 though which was nice for him).

Our other 3 lines played an average game. I was impressed with the defensive back checking of newcomer Wallin. Rosehill had a good bought. Kaberle was awesome...so controlled with the puck...glad we still have him around.

Toskala played a typical Toskala game from last season. He looked decent at times, and way out of position at others. He made some big saves, but also let in a weak goal. All in all it was a typical Toskala game...and that wont be good enough going down the stretch. With The Monster itching to get between the pipes, Vesa will surely have to pick it up.

And now the real negative part of last night's game. The D.
With all the hype around this new D that Burke has brought in, great things were expected, but in now way were great things delivered. Komisarek took way too many penalties (in the box for 2 of the goals against). Beauchemin was often caught pinching way too deep, and was out hustled getting back to our zone. White was...well...he looked like White from 2 seasons ago. Out of place, coughed up the puck, chasing the forwards into the corners leaving the front WIDE OOOOPPPEEENN! Schenn looked nervous and unsure of himself. Too many times I saw both D men together with the puck (see the pic)...why aren't they playing their positions???

It's only 1 game and we did walk away with a point, but without some great work by Price, I think we could have had both points even with all the bad D play.

And that's why I am still happy about the game...We will get better on D...but the Habs will still be short...
ha ha ha

(like I'm one to talk)

The Leafs grow a pair

yes...they lost...bad...but we finally grew a pair and kicked some Hab ass...and it's about time!

Brad May joined the ranks and basically became a steamroller knocking over anyone with a Ch on their chest last night...

and little Grabovski continued his feud with the brothers Kostitsyn...and in a brilliant moment of clarity...he gave a double F-U to the entire crowd at the Bell centre!..wow!

When asked about the rivalry he stated :

"If he wants to fight, we'll go in the street and every minute of every day I'll wait for him and we'll fight."

That's what I'm talkin about!

a side note about the Brad May trade...he was traded for a conditional 6th round pick...a lot of people were all up in arms about this saying that Burke is trading away our future for a goon...well..now we know the "conditions" of the pick...and they make Burke look like a genius.

The conditions are that the Leafs will have to give the Ducks the 6th rd pick IF May resigns with us before July 1st of 2009. That means that if he doesn't resign, or resigns AFTER July 1st (ie. July 2nd) then we got him for this season for free!

Not bad Burkie...bring in some muscle and leadership and get it for free.

JFJ would have given May 3.5 mill and a no movement...and then would have sent the Ducks our next 2 1st rounders...lol

between the #'s

Steve says:

Hollweg runs a kid from behind. The kid sees the hit coming and turns his back (rookie mistake). Hollweg gets a match penalty, and a 3 game suspension and all of Leafs Nation starts to turn him into the new whipping boy.

Malkin, one of the NHL's poster boys, runs Semin in the back. Malkin gets a 2 minute boarding penalty.

Kostitsyn, on the glorious 100 year old Habs team, runs Wideman into next week...he starts his charge at the blue line and ends it somewhere around row 5 in the stands...verdict? 2 minute boarding.

Now you may make the argument that Hollweg has a history and I will give you that. This guy has got to stop hitting like that. He must adapt his game if he hopes to continue on.

But, the whole point of the stiff sentences is to not only get Hollweg to change his ways, but also to send a message to all players that the league will not tolerate hits from behind.

I cant see how the message will ever get across if the only player being actually punished for doing this is Hollweg.

Game 33 - Habs roll over Leafs...again

Steve says:

Wow...we looked awful out there...so many defensive breakdowns...on the Koivu goal, both our defencemen were standing still in the high slot! He just walked out from the corner and deked Toskala for an easy goal.

It was painful to watch after they have been playing so well.

Speaking of painful,...McCabe went down hard in the third with a broken hand (broken in 3 places!) so he'll be gone for about 6-8 weeks. That could be the difference on our defence and could be the difference in our season ....of course, this is McCabe...so maybe somehow this will actually turn out as a benefit for us...

From last night, 5 of the teams we needed to win did,(Yotes, Canes, Penguins, Wings, and Sens) but the most important of all those wins did not happen. That puts us back in 9th again. Points wise we are tioed with the Penguins, but they have a game in hand. We are 1 point out of 6th place...

So tonight we need a few things to happen:
Devils over the Flyers
Yotes over the Rangers
Blackhawks over the Panthers

That will keep everybody close and help us out with those games in hand...

and hopefully the boys can regroup around that loss in Montreal....

from last night...to tonight

Steve says:

Some good things happened for the Leafs:
Sens beat the Penguins
Devils beat the Bruins
Flames beat Tampa

but, with the good comes the bad

habs beat flyers
isles beat yotes

So after all the dust has settled, Toronto gets bumped down to 10th place.
The good way to spin this is that we are now in a 3 way tie for points with Pittsburgh and NYIslanders. Pittsburgh has played the same number of games as us, and the Islanders only have 1 game in hand.
The Habs, Rangers, Bruins, and Devils have all also played the same number of games...so we can really see where we sit right now...which is out of a playoff spot.

That means that our future is really in our own hands now. Hopefully we fans will not be left on the edge of our seats hoping for some other team to win in order to decide our playoff fate this year.

Of the games happening tonight, here is who I hope wins...

Caps over Sabres
Flames over Canes
Leafs over Thrashers (duh)

Go Leafs Go!

Road Trip!

Steve says:

With that sweet home win, the boys in blue get themselves ready to hit the road on a 7 game road trip. They will not be back at the ACC until Sat. Dec. 29th vs. Rangers (Avery vs. Belak anyone?).

Anyway, here are the teams we are playing on the road, their last 10 game record and their position in relation to us in the standings:

Thrashers 5-4-1 below us
Canadiens 3-6-1 above us*

Hurricanes 4-6-0 above us

Lightning 3-6-1 below us

Panthers 6-4-0 below us

Islanders 3-5-2 below us

Flyers 4-4-2 above us*

(* equal in points, but they have games in hand)

So it looks like we have a good chance of not only winning some more games on the road, but with the race being so close (only 7pts separate us from 1st in the East!) we could really put ourselves in a good position heading into the 2nd half of the season.

Also, with the issues that teams like the Sens have been having lately, and the schedule they have in front of them, there is a chance of a few losses which would be great for the Leafs.

All of theses games are "4 point" games meaning that if we win in regulation, not only do we get 2 points, but we keep the other team, who happens to be in our conference race, from getting 2 points.

Hope we can keep up the winning ways.

As an aside, there is talk of the Leafs talking trade with San Jose...Marleau for Kaberle?...personally I think we should stick with the happy group we have for now...I think adding Marleau would only add to our offense..which isn't really an issue..it's the D we need to secure going forward.

Game 25 - Habs win in s/o 4-3

Steve says:

Captain clutch gives the Leafs (and PM and JFJ) hope with 17 seconds left thanks to some real hard work by Jason Blake....but the PM fucks it all up by putting Tucker in the shootout!

I really feel bad for Jason Blake...the poor guy cant buy a goal....he is working so hard and in the last few games I have seen at least a dozen shots that would have gone in had Jason not been jinxed by some weird voodoo.

And as for Vesa toskala...poor guy again...our D just keeps leaving him out to dry. I wouldn't say even one of those goals was his fault. He didn't let in one bad goal with the possible exception being the only that got jammed under his pad..but can you say "goaltender interference"?

The Hab player was all over him and jabbing Toskala with his stick...at what point does it become interference/slashing/spearing ?

It will be interesting to see if the OTPP finally steps in and does something about this train wreck. Sundin and Toskala deserve better.

ps. I think the zamboni driver was drunk.

vs the Habs - a preview

Steve says:

- Price in nets for the Habs
- Lafleur called the whole team a bunch of 4th liners
- Toskala starting for us
- Poni may not play, and if that is the case there is a possibility that Mark Bell could go onto the 1st line

WTF?! Mark Bell on the 1st line...

What the hell is PM thinking....with his job essentially on the line tonight ..he is gonna try Mark Bell on line 1?

Game 19

Montreal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs
Montreal win 3-2 (OT)

Steve says:

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

We played so well last night. Really patient passing and play making. If it wasn't for Price being so damn good last night, that game would have been a blowout.

And then McCabe happened.

How does this guy look at himself in a Leaf jersey? Who does that? In pee wee hockey they are taught to never put the puck to the middle. He could have done any number of things...thrown it in the right corner...skate in and take a shot....pass into the left corner where Sundin was WIDE open...but McCabe chose to do the one play a defence man knows to NEVER do...throw it across the middle...

Maybe he just figured he could save us all some time and elected to jump right to the Shootout portion of the evening.

Next time, don't do us any favours McCabe....

As an aside, Blake looked great and was actually passing for a change...Raycroft was pretty solid..made some decent saves including a toe save that I, along with every other viewer, thought would go in.

That's 2 points for McCabe against us...and counting...

Chris:

What can I say?

Steve has pretty much taken the words out of my mouth. Every bone headed play McCabe makes further reduces the likelihood that we'll ever be able to trade him for more than a package of airline peanuts and stale flop sweat. We're already bearing the weight of his over priced contract and I can't see that changing any time soon.

Steve:

The only positive as of late is that we have played a lot better since the spanking we rec'd by Ottawa...so..maybe we just bench McCabe and get some wins for a change...you know, McCabe might be ok with playing in the minors...I'm sure he can't be enjoying being the scapegoat.

Game 15

Toronto Maple Leafs at Montreal Canadiens
Toronto wins 3-2

Steve says:

Way to go boys...win or lose, that was an exciting game to watch! But Wins are best...:-) Friggin Toskala stood on his head ! Of course that means our D wasn't doing it's job to it's fullest potential, but all's well that ends well (insert nervous laugh here).

Kilger gets a nicely timed goal which proves that putting the puck on net is NEVER a bad play...NEVER EVER.

Sundin has had a couple of goals recently that have proved that also...

I am only a few hours away from the Leafs/Sens game on Tuesday and I hope we can forecheck hard, and not get sucked into our corners because that leaves the high slot open which is where the Sens #1 line gets 90% of their goals. They do the same play over and over again, and the best way to defend against it is to take away the passing lane...and send a heavy in to check the Ottawa player in the corner...pressure.

We cant keep up with speed or skill, so we need to use muscle plays and force our way to the net..jam in some shots...no pretty passes because Phillips and Volchenkov are too good at reading plays and intercepting which often creat 2-1 or 3-2 which will be morder for us.

and of course, stay out of the box...

Go Leafs Go! bitch slap those Sens!

Game 3

Steve says:

WooHoo!

We got win #1 under our belt! It was a great effort by all of the buds to come back from being down 3-1.

Once again the refs made some pretty bad calls on both sides including one on Sundin in Overtime, and then right after we killed that off, one on the habs...but that last one worked in our favour so I won't complain too loudly.

Once again Toskala made some huge saves to keep us in it. Now if only we didn't have to score 4 goals to win a game...

I am glad that Blake is such a strong person to be able to to play as well as he has knowing that he has a rare form of cancer. Hopefully he is telling the truth about his ability to continue playing. I hope he recovers and that his family doesn't need to suffer.

Good job boys...now lets keep the train a rollin'!

Go Leafs!

Chris Says:

I have a confession to make. I was watching this game at a restaurant in Montreal when I should have been paying attention to my lovely and gorgeous fiancé who was sitting at the table with me.

Oh, by the way, Steve, I’m going to need a groomsman. Save the date.

Anyway, moving on. This was a great game. It was good to see the boys in blue battle back after getting down two goals. Toskala was sharp and the defense wasn’t totally porous. But in the third period Toskala was leaving the net a lot to field the puck on the boards and that was making me nervous. On more than one occasion a Habs player could have easily given him a well placed nudge. Raycroft has the same habit and it’s that kind of wanderlust that could see a quick goal scored on an undefended T.O. net.

Stay between the pipes boys and if you’re gonna leave the safety of the crease, at least be smart about it and don’t chase after every puck skidding across the ice like an over anxious retriever.

Three assists from Sundin and that ain’t shabby. But I want to see the old man scoring goals. He may not have m(any) more seasons left in him and I’d like to see him run up his stats while he still can.

And finally, Jason Blake. For those of you still unaware Blake was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). The good news is apparently CML is highly treatable so Blake’s prognosis is positive. Having gone through my own cancer scare with my mother this year I know how heavy this kind of stuff can be. I wish him all the best and I hope that he comes through this thing in flying colours.

On rivalries

Chris Says:

For my birthday present last year my gf bought me ticks to see the Sens play the Habs.

Now when I opened the present up I should have been insanely happy (which I was). But you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Because I was in a silent quandry.

Who the hell did I cheer for?

The Habs with whom the Leafs had a decades old rivalry?

Or the Sens. The dirty stinking Sens. (nuff said.)

I threw my support behind the Habs. Because hey, they don't live in the same province as me and the last time there was a truly memorable rivalry between them and the Leafs my father was probably still in short pants. Now the Sens on the other hand have been thorn in my side for the last ten years. And when your nearest and dearest, despite all your pleading, is determined to continue cheering for them...well...it builds a powerful hate in a man.

To complicate matters the Habs were running neck and neck with Leafs at the time for that last available playoff spot. So cheering for the Habs would, by extension, be me cheering against the Leafs.

So I just sat on my hands and watched the game. Actually it was almost more fun to watch the various fan factions goad each other. Did you know that even Habs fans do the "choke" symbol when playing Ottawa? I thought that was just a T.O. thing.

Now besides Leaf's games the only other Hockey I watch is when Canada as a whole is repped (think the Olympics or the Juniors). I catch a lotta flack from people that I'm not a true hockey fan. A true hockey fan would continue to watch the playoffs for the love of the game once their team was eleminated.

Maybe they're right. Maybe I'm not a hockey fan, just a Leafs fan. And I'm all right with that. I'll watch other games if they're on the tube, but I sure won't seek em out.

Because when you throw all your support behind one team it starts to feel dishonest to cheer for another.

Steve says:
BUT, by cheering for the Sens to win, you are really cheering for your team better it's chances to make it into the playoffs...how is that dishonest in any way?
You knew the standings when we went to that game and you knew what the different outcomes would do to the Leafs chances. So where was your Leaf jersey?!!!
ps. to anyone reading this, NEVER take your car to the palladium, or Scotiabank place or whatever the frik they are calling it these days...it took me 2.5 hours to get out of the parking lot! and then the traffic was soooo stupid on the highway, it was basically another parking lot...
take the bus...

Chris Says:

I wore my Leafs cap into the den of the beast which is more than I can say for you!